Writing a Greek Myth

This week my third grade students produced their first writing piece that was the result of a directed assignment. As in past years, this task generated much enthusiasm. Of course, it took two weeks of priming to attain this. I mentioned in a previous blog post that children need to be exposed to high quality, high interest literature in order to develop their writing skills. We have been reading about the Greek Heroes from Greek Mythology these last couple of weeks. The kids have been completely captivated by the great adventures of Hercules and Perseus and Theseus. So, when I announced on Wednesday morning that they would be writing their own Greek myth they exploded with excitement.

Being a non-traditionalist in my approach to teaching writing, I do not start the year teaching kids how to write a paragraph, with topic sentence and supporting sentences. Yes, this is important and necessary to teach, and I will get to it very soon. But, I am a firm believer in capitalizing on creative writing in the teaching of basic writing skills. When there is a high level of motivation to write, students often seek out on their own the  skills necessary for stronger writing pieces. My writing lessons through the year consist of many creative writing assignments, intersperced with the teaching of paragraph structure and organization.

I began the assignment on Wednesday and on Friday the kids wrote out their final drafts.

My Goals:

1. I wanted my students to use their imagination and let out their creativity. The mechanics of writing – paragraphing, punctuation, etc., - were not important. I didn’t want their creativity hampered.
2. I want to develop in my students a love and enthusiasm for writing.
3. The story had to have a beginning, middle, and end.
4. A description of the central character

Day 1: Qualities of the Greek Heroes.

Think about the three heroes we’ve been reading about. Hercules, Perseus, Theseus. What qualities did they have that enabled them to accomplish what they did?

I then reread relevant paragraphs from a few of the stories. Because my students are third graders they needed to hear the descriptions again!

On chart paper, I listed their responses.

1. Strong and powerful
2. Fearless, brave, courageous.
3. Kind and good
4. Creative
5. They never gave up
6. Respectful
7. Smart, wise
8. Planned ahead
9. Enjoyed challenges
10. Believed in themselves – had self-confidence

Having this vocabulary displayed allows the kids to access vocabulary in their own writing.

Day 2: The kids began writing their story today. To ensure that their stories contained all the essential elements of a story, I needed to have a pattern available to them.

I started the lesson as follows:

Each of the stories about the Greek Heroes followed a pattern. A pattern is something that repeats itself. What was repeated in each of the stories? What did each of the stories have in common?

I listed their responses on a chart:

1. The main character was a hero who was brave and strong.
2. The problem always involved a monster
3. The hero went on a journey to find the monster
4. Along the journey the hero met other characters who helped him solve the problem.
5. Gods and goddesses appeared in most of the stories

Now, it’s time for you to start your story. First you will write a first draft. Have fun and don’t worry about spelling. I’ll help you fix your spelling when you are all done. Begin your story by describing your hero. I pointed to the chart we had created the day before with the descriptive vocabulary. Give your hero a name and use this chart to help you. After you have introduced your hero, the main character, write the rest of your story. You may use the pattern if you want, but you don’t have to.

Because I want kids to love writing I try to make the activity as stress free as possible. It was important to spend time discussing the pattern of the story. Many kids at this age haven’t written stories yet. For some kids it will all happen naturally. Others need concrete guidelines. 

Day 3 Some kids were done with their first drafts and others needed more time. Each student took a turn to show me their completed story. I helped them with spelling and punctuation. I made a point of being generous with my compliments. To be honest, it wasn’t hard. Their stories were really good.

What impressed me most was their use of voice. I hadn’t mentioned it, or taught it to them. They got it – just by being exposed to excellent stories. Most kids rose to the challenge of showing decent character descriptions and an imaginative plot.

About 7 or 8 students showed writing capability but pretty much copied the basic plot ideas from the stories we had read. I don’t have a problem with this. Not everyone is cut out to be a writer! As long as they can write coherent sentences and produce a beginning, middle, and end, there’s hope! Three students had quite a bit of difficulty creating coherent sentences. This isn’t unusual at all. At this age – 8 – some kids are developmentally behind their peers. Also, if a child’s first language isn’t English, writing can be a challenge. In my next blog I’ll let you know how I help the struggling writers. I’ll also discuss time management because that is a big issue too. 

Here are two stories from my students:

Week 2 - Journaling

Journal writing during the second week of school is the main forum for creative writing in my class. It’s important for kids to have the opportunity to write informally. When they write in their journals their entire focus is on the thoughts going through their minds on the topic. They shouldn’t let grammar rules and other writing conventions bog them down. The process should be enjoyable, not tedious. I want my students to get used to the idea of capturing their free flowing thoughts on paper.

I teach third grade and at this age the kids need a lot of guidance when it comes to writing. I put up a topic, and provide leading questions to spur their thinking.  During journal writing time I make it clear to my students that they are to be thinking and writing the entire time (usually about eight minutes).

This is the plan for the week coming up:

Tuesday: Describe what your Labor Day weekend was like. Tell about:

1. A place you went to;
2. An activity you did;
3. A meal you ate;
4. A person or people you saw

I discuss the topic and clarify that a place is anywhere outside their house. The grocery store, the park, the beach, downtown, the shopping mall, a relative’s house, the pool, the movies, etc., are all places. This quickly eliminates the but, I didn’t go anywhere excuse! An activity means reading, TV, movies, playing a game, shopping, etc.

A topic like this at the start of the school week is a great way to build a community spirit. Before I ask them to share their writing, I tell them about my weekend. They see me in more human terms and I get to know them better.

Wednesday: What are some of your favorite summer activities?

After eight minutes I ask for volunteers to share. As each student shares their favorite summer activity I write their idea on the board in a concise sentence that they articulate after creative prompting from me. I think this is a golden opportunity to model strong sentences.

When each new idea is presented I ask the student to vary the sentence by using appropriate verbs for the specific activity.

Eg. I like going to the pool on hot days.

I enjoy walking my dog in the park.

Lemonade is a way for me to cool down.

After taking about six ideas I ask the kids to choose two ideas to copy in their journals. I am a firm believer that in copying good writing, kids develop their own writing skills.

Thursday: Qualities of a Good Friend

Think about what you like in a friend. For each quality that you come up with write a sentence.

After 8 minutes students share their writing. Again I model sentences on the board, prompting them to vary each sentence.

Examples:

A good friend is someone you can trust.

I like a friend who cheers you up when you are sad.

A quality I like in a friend is kindness.

To conclude the session I ask the kids to choose two ideas from the board and copy them in their journals.

Friday: This Week

On Fridays I have the kids reflect on their week. I tell them to write in their journals about:

1. Something they learned at school;
2. Something they enjoyed – either at school or at home or wherever;
3. Something they didn’t enjoy.

A discussion after they write helps them realize just how much they learned, and is a wonderful way to bring closure to the week.

First Week of School - Journals, High interest literature

I like to have a friendly, nonthreatening atmosphere at the start of school. My main emphasis is on journal writing. Later in the week I also do two structured writing assignments. In the first activity the students produce a poster about themselves. In the second activity they write a poem about themselves using a template.

Daily journal writing throughout the year is extremely important. It exercises the writing muscle, and keeps up the momentum. My students learn from Day 1 that the first thing they do when they enter the classroom is to get out their journals. There's a topic on the board with some directions to guide their writing. (I usually discuss the topic as well when everyone has settled in.) Each day I select a topic of a different genre. I think it's incredibly important to vary writing tasks to keep up the enthusiasm. These are the types of journal writing I assign:

1. Personal narrative

2. Fantasy, such as What If You Could Fly?

3.  Expository, such as Describe How to Play Basketball

4. Persuasive, where they write their opinions on an issue

In the first week of school I have a pretty low key attitude toward journal writing. I want the kids to feel relaxed about the activity. The first week is also a learning experience for me. I want to see what my students can do without much guidance.

Two years ago, I recorded how I taught my lessons in my third grade classroom, and what I observed. Each week I will describe those past lessons and add more ideas and advice from this year's experiences.

On Day 1, Monday, my students wrote down their feelings about the first day of school.

Describe how you feel about being a third grader. What are you looking forward to doing this year?

They seemed eager to put brand new pencil to clean white paper. A silence fell as 29 kids thought about how they were feeling and recorded it on paper. One student seemed confused. When I asked her if she knew what to do she shook her head. After a few exchanges with her I realized she was a struggling writer. So I placed a lined Post-it note on her desk and had her do an oral response to the topic. I wrote it down on the Post-it note and she copied it into her journal.

As I walked around the classroom I realized I had a very wide range of abilities. Some kids were churning out sentences and others were stuttering through their first sentence. I allow ten minutes for journal writing. A student wrote two sentences and then claimed to be done about five minutes later. I announced to the class that they were not allowed to be done until I asked them to stop writing.

After ten minutes I asked if anyone would like to share. More than half the class raised their hands. This made me happy. Clearly, they were an enthusiastic bunch.

Typically, journal time in my class lasts about 15 minutes. Two minutes to explain the topic, eight minutes of writing, and five minutes (or less) of discussion and sharing.

The rest of the week, I kept the topics pretty simple and limited them to narratives where they got to describe themselves, their families, friends, interests, etc. These entries tapped out important content that became useful in the structured writing activities on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday the students created an “About Me” poster. On white paper divided up into 4 sections they described different aspects of themselves.

Section 1: Details – age, family, grade level, etc.

Section 2: Description – This includes both physical traits and personality

We had a brainstorming session to generate vocabulary. I used this opportunity to teach kids the importance of using adjectives that give information (eg. shy, athletic, creative, energetic, funny). Vague adjectives (good, nice, great) are like empty calories. For students who aren't native English speakers you can get a list of qualities that describe people from some online resource and ask kids to choose the ones that apply to them.

Section 3: Rules I live by – eg. I read daily, I help with chores, I recycle, I try to help people in need

Section 4: Dreams – wishes, desires
They can write about places they would like to travel to, things they would like to own (eg. iPad), what they want to do when they grow up, skills they want to learn (playing guitar, foreign language), people they'd like to meet

After writing their phrases they decorated the poster and I put them up on a bulletin board.

This information can be used to write a personal narrative.

On Friday they wrote what I call the “I Am … “ poem. The template that they used guided them into producing an informative three dimensional desciption of themselves.

Sample Template:

I am (two special characteristics)   I wonder (something you are actually curious about)   I hear (an imaginary sound)   I see (an imaginary sight)   I want (an actual desire)   I am (the first line of the poem restated)   I pretend (something you pretend to do)   I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)   I touch (an imaginary touch)   I worry (something that really bothers you)   I cry (something that makes you very sad)   I am (the first line of the poem repeated)   I understand (something you know is true)   I say (something you believe in)   I dream (something you actually dream about)   I try (something you make an effort to do)   I hope (something you actually hope for)   I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

 As you guide students through the writing, encourage them to come up with different ideas for each line. We want as full a picture of them as possible. If they love playing basketball, one line expressing this is sufficient. On the other hand, you might want them to stick to a specific interest and write all their lines expressing various aspects of this interest.

Finally, a word about reading. I get right into high quality, high interest literature in the first week. Lots of exposure to great stories has a two fold purpose. First, it's a way to get kids excited about being back at school. And second, it forms the basis for teaching writing in future months.

Every day of the first three weeks I read a story about the Greek heroes from Greek mythology. The kids find these stories utterly captivating. Every detail intrigues them. But the best part about these stories is that the characters are strong and complex and the plots follow a perfect arc. After I read the story, we discuss and analyze the plot elements together. What a smooth way to get into character growth and change, setting descriptions, and plot development. The kids have absolutely no trouble describing the problem in the story and then summarizing the beginning, middle, and end. 

If you want your students to become strong writers, you have to expose them to the best stories and writing that you can get your hands on.

I hope you found this entry helpful. Do visit again next week for more ideas.

A few more tips ...

Summer vacation has come to an end and it’s time to receive a new class of kids. Planning curriculum is likely foremost on your mind. My belief is that the writing component of the teaching day is a close second to reading fluency in its importance to a child’s education. It follows that a lot of thought and planning should go into teaching writing in order to create a strong program in the elementary classroom.  

A first thought that comes to my mind is the importance of a stress free environment when you are teaching writing. To mine that astonishing creativity with which kids are endowed, do everything in your power to make writing a joyful process.

• Think of topics that will excite them. Throw out some bold ideas on the topic to serve as catalysts for “outside the box” thinking. Encourage others to share ideas. We learn from others, after all.

• Break up the assignment into multiple lessons. Don’t overwhelm students by asking them to show you the “Six Traits of Writing” in the first lesson! In my personal writing I find it difficult to produce the first draft of a new assignment. I want my amazing ideas to appear on my paper, but concerns about sentence structure, organization, word choice, etc. impede my performance. Thank heavens for Anne Lamott’s advice in her handy book on writing called Bird by Bird. Write a “shitty” first draft she advises. This has been one of thé most invaluable pieces of advice I have ever obtained. It is so liberating to know that it’s perfectly okay to let those thoughts flow. There will be plenty of time later to express those thoughts in beautiful prose.

I have more to say on this subject, but I’ll save it for later blog entries.

• Teachers often worry that assigning creative writing in the classroom is frivolous. In the real world most people use expository writing, they point out. So in the classroom we need to emphasize non-fiction writing skills. I have a lot to say about this, but I’ll try to be brief. As a writer myself, I have found that creative writing (specifically, writing novels) has been crucial to the development of my own writing skills. Ultimately, good writing is the art of stringing together words to create coherent sentences, and organizing these sentences into a readable sequence. Why not use a fun, nonthreatening platform to teach these skills? Of course, I am not saying that all writing in the classroom should be fiction. During the teaching day students ought to be constantly producing expository writing in the content areas.

• Good literature and the teaching of writing are inextricably linked. Teach kids to read with a writer's eye. As you expose them to great books like Bridge to Terabithia and Charlotte's Web, spend time appreciating the prose, the imagery, character details, etc. Whenever you work on a specific writing skill, such as describing a setting, seek out examples from literature.

In my next entry I will discuss journal writing during the first week of school.

Stay tuned!